Suppliers of surgical suture threads commonly supply such threads with needles secured to the thread. This is especially the case for needles of relatively smaller sizes, such as those used in ophthalmic, neurologic, plastic and reconstruction, vascular and microsurgery. The convention that is adopted in this specification is to refer to the combined unit of the needle and surgical thread as a "suture". Such sutures can be "single-armed" (i.e., having a needle attached to one end of the ligature) or "double-armed" (i.e., having a needle attached to each end of the thread).
In order to facilitate use of the suture by the surgeon and prevent the cutting edges or points of the needles from becoming damaged, and the threads from becoming kinked, knotted or tangled, many different types of packages have been conceived for surgical sutures. In some of these designs, the sharp points of needles are received in a small block of pierceable material and the ligature is either wound about or folded within portions of the package. Examples of such packages are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,951,261, 3,985,227 and 4,120,395. In these designs, a small block of pierceable material is used to hold the needle and this small piece can become dislodged from its holder and be lost. Also, with packages of this type, the ligatures tend to become tangled.
Other forms of suture packages employing blocks of pierceable material to hold and protect sutures are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,431.
To overcome the above disadvantages, suture packages utilizing a relatively large, flat body of a pierceable, nonsloughing foam material have been proposed and used, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,987. In one variation of such package, the holder comprises an elongated generally rectangular foam block having a portion of reduced width at one end thereof to receive the needle or needles, the thread being wrapped about the central portion of the holder. Although such large suture carriers are excellent for packaging and storage of the sutures, they are bulky and cumbersome to use during surgical procedures. There can be difficulties in removing the suture from the carrier, and the carrier is usually too large to conveniently serve as a needle park to protect and locate a needle when it is temporarily set aside. The park can prevent snagging of the needle in surgical drapes and consequent pull-off of the needle from the suture thread.